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Last year, when David Wazana left Rochester, I was wistful.
An Ithaca College student from Los Angeles, he spent last summer here as a member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort. He believed you have to live in a community to report on it—so he found an apartment in the 19th Ward and spent three months slowly learning Rochester. Saying goodbye as he readied to drive cross country to L.A. was tough.
It will be the same with this year’s cohort. The Beacon formalized the Oasis Project three years ago, growing out of my experiences teaching at the University of Rochester and St. John Fisher University. The idea: to counter the growth of “news deserts” by helping foster a new generation of journalists. Young people care about community and see journalism as a way to express that—and the Oasis Project is where I get to witness that firsthand. Running it is one of the most joyful parts of my year: watching eager writers find their footing, and seeing former cohort members turn around and share what they’ve learned.
In total, 16 students have participated in the Oasis Project. Including those who came before the program was formalized, nearly 40 have had work published in the Beacon.
Being an incubator for young writers is a point of pride. Beacon board member Allison Frisch, who teaches at Ithaca College, serves as a mentor to the cohort. And you, our readers, have supported this program from the start—your Community News Fund donations go directly toward paying these writers for their work. We’re grateful. (You can donate to help the program here.)
This year, contributing writers Jacob Schermerhorn—one of the Beacon’s first summer interns—and Narm Nathan, a member of the inaugural cohort, are guiding the newest class, sharing what they know about the community and the craft.
And David? He came back. He’s decided to put down roots in Rochester for a while, reporting for the Beacon—and serving as a sounding board for the third cohort, just as Narm once did for him. Alex Holly, who was in David’s cohort, is also back and will be covering the Rochester Jazz Fest like they did last year.
Meet the Oasis Project’s third cohort:
Audra Fitzgerald
School: Ithaca College
Degree: B.S., advertising, public relations, and marketing communications
Home: Boston
Kayla Gullage
School: Rochester Institute of Technology
Degree: B.S., journalism and English
Home: Fredericksburg, Va.
Aiko Levick
School: Rochester Institute of Technology
Degree: B.S., communication and political science; M.S., communication
Home: Milwaukee
Brodie Martin
School: Nazareth University
Degree: B.A., communications and mass media
Home: Ontario
Danik Soudakoff
School: Rochester Institute of Technology
Degree: M.S., criminal justice
Home: Riverside, Calif.
Smriti Jacob is Rochester Beacon managing editor.
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
Wonderful project! Keep it up.
Can we just drop that asinine and vastly overused 2010s buzzword, “cohort”? This is just a group of people. It’s not a unit of the Roman army. If “group” is too pedestrian (see “The Mark Cuban Rule”), there are plenty of good synonyms that can be utilized. No need to sound like a refugee from a 2016 marketing meeting.